Quotes from Ann Brashares

There was nothing new in sitting on this dock, on this or that wooden bench, watching for his boat to come. In some ways, she was always waiting for him.

I'm not going anywhere without you. We're swimming to China together. And if the worst happens, I'm dying with you before I'm living without you.

Carmen hated the 'life is too short rationalization. She thought it was one of the lamer excuses in the history of excuse-making. Whenever you did something because life is too short not to, you could be sure life would be just long enough to punish you for it.

I always search for her; I always remember her. I carry the hope that someday she will remember me.

I always interpret coincidences as little clues to our destiny

It was frustrating when people loved you and took an interest in you and sometimes worried about you and personally cared what you did with yourself. Lena wished that love were something you could flip on and off. You could turn it on when you felt good bout yourself and worthy of it and generous enough to return it. You could clip it off when you needed to hide or self-destruct and had nothing at all to give. (Lena, 194)

Rule #1: The customer is always right. Rule #2: If the customer is wrong, please refer to rule #1. -Duncan Howe

But I know this. We're ready to move forward again in our way. Together or apart, no matter how far apart, we live in one another. We go on together.

Sometimes you need to make a mess. -Loretta, the Rollinses' hosekeeper

She wasn't sure if he wanted more from her or if he wanted less. Maybe it was both. Maybe it was always both.

You don't have time, Len. That is the most bitter and the most beautiful piece of advice I can offer. If you don't have what you want now, you don't have what you want.

Are you sure were not dead? I really fucking hope not.

She knew that when she got old it would be more fun to look back on a life of romance and adventure than a life of quiet habits. But looking back was easy. It was the doing that was painful. There were plenty of things she would like to look back on but wasn't willing to risk ...

She was astonished, and at the same time she knew. There were many things in life like that. You couldn't imagine it, and then it happened and you couldn't really imagine it hadn't.

She cared about him too much, and he was a dangerous person to love. He wouldn't love her back.

She loved her mother and depended on her mother, and yet every single word her mother said annoyed her.

If you didn't have a choice, you had to make a choice. If you didn't have options, you made some. You couldn't just let this world happen to you... he didn't see eternity. He saw this girl and this moment and this one slim chance.

I'm afraid of time. I mean, I'm afraid of not having enough time. Not enough time to understand people, how they really are, or to be understood myself.

Do you have any idea how much I've loved you?

I mean putting yourself out there in the way of overwhelming happiness and knowing you're also putting yourself in the way of terrible harm. I'm scared to be this happy. I'm scared to be this extreme.

Please don't judge me too much until you are older and know more things. (Spoken from mother to daughter)

Wear them, they will make you brave.

What if people knew they were recycled? Would that change anything?

Honesty was a tough customer... Once you started allowing yourself some honesty, it couldn't easily be contained or limited to one part of your life. It was like poison ivy or a bossy houseguest. Once it was there, you couldn't tell it what to do. You had to really fight to keep it from taking over.